Iraq is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic. It is a multi-party system whereby the executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, the President of Iraq as the head of state, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives.
The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of the current government of Haider al-Abadi since 2014. Osama Tawfiq al-Tikriti succeeded Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi as the party's secretary-general on 24 May 2009, who was succeeded in July 2011 by Ayad al-Samarrai.
The Council of Representatives, usually referred to simply as the Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, it is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the country. As of 2020, it comprises 329 seats and meets in Baghdad inside the Green Zone.
The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on September 18, 2005 by the Transitional National Assembly of Iraq, and confirmed by constitutional referendum, held on October 15, 2005. It was published on December 28, 2005 in the Official Gazette of Iraq, in Arabic original, and thus came into force. An official translation into English for international use was produced in cooperation between Iraqi state authorities and the United Nations' Office for Constitutional Support. Since 2006, several proposals for adoption of various constitutional amendments were initiated. The Kurdish language is official at state level.
The electorate of Iraq went to the polls on 15 October 2005 to vote in a referendum on whether or not to ratify the proposed constitution of Iraq. After 10 days of counting votes, the country's electoral commission announced that the constitution had been approved by a wide margin nationwide. A number of mainly Sunni critics like future deputy prime minister Saleh al-Mutlaq alleged massive irregularities, saying that soldiers broke in to polling stations and changed votes to yes in the crucial province of Nineveh, which was expected by them to provide the third "no" vote.
The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election. As a large section of Iraq's Sunnis are composed by the populous Kurds, situated in northern Iraq and locally autonomous, the party's members are mostly Arab, and as such, its political efforts have largely been focused on protecting this community's interests as opposed to Iraq's non-Sunni population. In the 2005 election, its platform called for ending the US occupation of Iraq, revision of the new Iraqi constitution, repeal of the de-Ba'athification laws that had cost many Sunnis their government jobs and the restoration of the Iraqi Army, which was dissolved after the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein and which had a Sunni dominated officer corps. Despite this, the party has maintained that it is non-secular, even though the Ba'ath Party contained many prominent Sunnis.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 15 December 2005, following the approval of a new constitution in a referendum of 15 October.
The Iraqi Front for National Dialogue also known as Hiwar is a Sunni Arab-led Iraqi political party.
Saleh Muhammed al-Mutlaq is an Iraqi politician who is the head of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, the fifth largest political list in Iraq's parliament. From 21 December 2010 to 11 August 2015, he was one of the three deputy prime ministers of Iraq.
The government of Iraq has established a committee to consider a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Iraq.
The Kirkuk status referendum was the Kirkuk part of a planned plebiscite to decide whether the disputed territories of Northern Iraq should become part of the Kurdistan Region. The referendum was initially planned for 15 November 2007, but was repeatedly delayed and ultimately never took place.
On 12 April 2007, the canteen of the Council of Representatives of Iraq building was attacked by a suicide bomber, killing one to eight people and wounding 23 others. The attack, in the heavily fortified Green Zone of Baghdad, occurred ten minutes after the Council of Representatives had adjourned for lunch. It was on the first floor of the Baghdad Convention Center, which houses the parliament. Two further unexploded suicide vests were found near the canteen. The building had earlier been searched by dogs – very rare considering dogs are considered ritually unclean by Iraqis – suggesting the authorities suspected an attack was imminent. Following the attack the government closed down mobile phone networks and Apache helicopters flew overhead.
Abdul Nasir Karim Yusuf al-Janabi is an Iraqi politician and a former member of the Iraqi Council of Representatives for the Sunni Arab-led Iraqi Accord Front.
Humam Hamoudi is one of the most important figures in Iraqi politics. He is a member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq representing the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA). Hamoudi is leader of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Governorate or provincial elections were held in Iraq on 31 January 2009, to replace the local councils in fourteen of the eighteen governorates of Iraq that were elected in the 2005 Iraqi governorate elections. 14,431 candidates, including 3,912 women, contested 440 seats. The candidates came from over 400 parties, 75% of which were newly formed.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 7 March 2010. The elections decided the 325 members of the Council of Representatives who would elect the prime minister and president. The elections resulted in a partial victory for the Iraqi National Movement, led by former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, which won 91 seats, making it the largest alliance in the Council. The State of Law Coalition, led by incumbent Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, was the second largest grouping with 89 seats.
The Al Anbar Governorate election of 2009 was held on 31 January 2009 alongside elections for all other governorates outside Iraqi Kurdistan and Kirkuk.
The Iraqi National Movement (INM), more commonly known as the al-Iraqiya List, was an Iraqi political coalition formed to contest the 2010 parliamentary election by Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi's Renewal List, the Iraqi National Accord led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front led by Saleh al-Mutlaq. The party included both Shi'a leaders and Sunni leaders and claimed to be secular and non-sectarian.
This article concerns the formation process of the Al Maliki I Government of Iraq in the aftermath of the Iraq National Assembly being elected on December 15, 2005. Due to disputes over alleged vote-rigging the results of the election were only certified by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq on February 10, 2006.
Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 30 April 2014. The elections decided the 328 members of the Council of Representatives who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister.
